A Florida Bar Presidency
Case Study
THE CLIENT: As an official arm of the Florida Supreme Court, the third largest such bar in the U.S. and duty to regulate and discipline attorneys, The Florida Bar just elected the sixth female President in its 60-year history, Michelle Suskauer.
THE UNDERTAKING: Michelle Suskauer faced a contested election as well as brought with her a number of sensitive and controversial initiatives that she planned to address during her presidency, like gender bias/inclusivity and criminal justice reform, to name a few. Aside from positioning Suskauer for high-level media opportunities and speaking engagements, it was essential to promote her initiatives and story strategically and in a way that unites and not divides people on these topics in order to create positive headway.
THE PROPULSION SOLUTION: Position the Bar and Suskauer as leaders in these respective areas among top-tier media through proactive pitching and expert source positioning, drafting of op-eds, coordinating and managing meetings with newspaper editorial boards, social media counsel/analytics reporting – and more – in turn, shaping the narrative surrounding the media’s coverage and putting the association in a place to win support and create change.
THE PROPULSION OUTCOME:
Routinely featured as on-the-record sources for some of the most respected news outlets nationally and with heavy local saturation to get in front of members and the public
Michelle Suskauer profiled in Forbes on what The Florida Bar was doing to combat gender discrimination
Convinced Florida editorial boards to write about criminal justice reform and pay increases for court employees through coordination of meetings with Michelle, talking point development and briefings
Drafted criminal justice reform op-ed, and other op-ed topics, and secured numerous placements statewide
Developed questions for a social media video series unveiled following Florida’s first-ever Criminal Justice Reform Summit led by Michelle
Regularly attended Board of Governor meetings across the state and personally addressed them/gave updates on progress to instill confidence